


Later Than Usual

by rabbitknight



Series: Just Us Three 🌱🐇🍙 [2]
Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Budding Love, Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Romance, Polyamory Negotiations, Pre-Poly, Pre-Relationship, Romantic Friendship, Roommates, Sharing Body Heat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:55:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28020522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rabbitknight/pseuds/rabbitknight
Relationships: Kanda Yuu & Allen Walker, Kanda Yuu & Lavi, Kanda Yuu & Lavi & Allen Walker, Kanda Yuu/Allen Walker, Kanda Yuu/Lavi, Kanda Yuu/Lavi/Allen Walker, Lavi & Allen Walker, Lavi/Allen Walker
Series: Just Us Three 🌱🐇🍙 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026669
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Later Than Usual

The apartment was dark when Lavi came in, save for the faint light and soft sounds of the TV still playing its broadcast, and the redhead blinked groggily before he just continued on his way and kept undressing. 

His coat was hung up, and his scarf and boots went away without enthusiasm as he trudged into the kitchen to unpack his lunch and get himself a drink. Listening to the TV drone on quietly, Lavi savoured a tall glass of water and basked in the almost silence of the evening. The couple was never usually so quiet for so long, his roommates happy to bicker and banter at every turn, but Lavi wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth after such a long night. He could, however, go stir the pot a little and bask in the easy atmosphere that the couple fostered around them. 

Lavi was about to call out and ask what they were watching when he stepped around into the living room and realized that both his hosts were asleep on the couch. They were draped over either end of the couch, sprawled over one another and the couch arms, and they were both snoring ever so softly. 

Allen had sprawled completely, limbs out in every direction as he had gotten himself comfortable, and his head was pillowed in Kanda’s lap. Sleeping like this, the subtle sense of worry that lingered in Allen’s eyes was gone and he looked his age at long last, pale hair mussed on one side from what could only have been his boyfriend’s fingers. 

Kanda was sitting mostly upright, slumped into the hand that had been holding up his head, and the arm of the couch had become an impromptu pillow for the dark-haired man. Kanda looked the most peaceful Lavi had ever seen him, his frown completely missing from his fair face, and he was sleeping peacefully beneath Allen’s head. 

Lavi’s groggy grimace broke with a smile as he looked over at the infomercials that had taken the place of any regularly scheduled programming and turned off the TV. He could put these two to bed at the very least, get them some more comfortable rest for the night, and Lavi pushed some hair behind Kanda’s ear before he stooped and carefully slipped his arms under Allen one at a time. Lavi had to move slowly and carefully, murmuring to Allen in a hushed tone as he coaxed the pale-haired man into holding onto him, and in the end Lavi managed to lift Allen out of Kanda’s lap. 

Allen barely stirred, his lashes fluttering as he was shifted and carried, but as Lavi stood up to his full height he heard a small scoff. Allen’s arms tightened, comfortable for the moment and unbothered by the smells clinging to his clothes, so Lavi looked over and realized that Kanda had woken up in the shuffle. Somewhere in the time he’d taken to hum, murmur, and carefully guide Allen into his arms, Kanda had been shifted or bumped just enough to wake him and now he was scrutinizing them harshly. 

Kanda was surveying the scene with a scowl Lavi had seen many times, and the redhead smiled as cheekily as he could at this time of night. 

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Lavi hummed, his arms full of Kanda’s boyfriend in a slightly incriminating show of concern. “I’ve never seen you two asleep out here before.” He was a little smug about it, having caught the dark-haired man in a moment of weakness, but Lavi had bigger fish to fry as Kanda shifted and stopped leaning on the couch arm. 

“Hn.” Kanda didn’t respond immediately, rubbing one eye, and Lavi’s smile twitched in confusion as Kanda continued. “Of course you pick _him_ up, rabbit...” He even rolled his bleary blue eyes, lifting his feet off the coffee table. “Careful, your favouritism is showing.” Kanda even had that tight snappy tone to his voice that true irritation could bring, his eyes flat and displeased, and Lavi thought on his feet with the last of his energy. Kanda’s real anger could be pondered over tomorrow, in the morning, and he just tried to catch Kanda off guard. 

“Well,” He said groggily, already yearning to lie down and forget the day he’d faced. “I’d do you both, but Allen is the one I can pick up without him waking up and hitting me.” He gave the dark-haired man a shrug, seeing his gears turning as they stood in a semi-stand off until Kanda broke their eye contact with his lip curled. 

“Tsk.” He averted his eyes, pushing his loosened hair back from his face again tiredly as he conceded the petty argument. Kanda had been the one to smack at the redhead’s overly friendly approach, so he couldn’t logically have any ground to hold this against him, but it didn’t stop him from scowling petulantly. 

“Is that Yuu asking to be picked up and carried to bed first?” Lavi teased, his smile widening at the other man’s silence. Allen was mumbling in his sleep, some thread of his dream becoming more absurd than all the others as he nuzzled Lavi’s collar, but the pale-haired man didn’t stir enough to worry Lavi at all. The redhead waggled his eyebrows at Kanda and that was the final straw 

“Are you carrying him to bed or aren’t you?” Kanda snarled, frowning, and Lavi just chuckled helplessly before his head tipped to one side. Kanda looked ready to get up and take Allen from him, jaw set in a tight clench, so Lavi knew to pick his battles carefully now. He loved to wind Kanda up, even on the worst days and when Kanda was willing to lash out, but the redhead was too tired to put up much fuss tonight. He didn’t know what he had done to legitimately upset the dark-haired man, but he didn’t want to push it when the apartment was such a comfortable arrangement.

“I’m going, I’m going,” Lavi sighed, smile dimming to a fonder expression, and he side-stepped around the couch and its grumpy occupant with a nod before he left the main room. He reaffirmed his grip on the shorter man suspended in his arms and padded down the hall to the master bedroom. 

Lavi had to do a quick trick with his elbow and knee in order to get the door open, his hands full of his host, and he didn’t pause at all before he stepped into the bedroom and looked around. Allen’s mumbling aside, the shorter man was peacefully resting in Lavi’s arms and his grip around his shoulders nice and steady as Lavi navigated the dark room. Lavi could pick out the shape of the bed from the faint light streaming through the blinds, keen eye out for anything between him and their destination, and he felt Kanda at his side briefly before the dark-haired man simply passed around him to lie down and throw the blankets back for them. 

Lavi’s lips twitched, tempted to say something beyond cheeky that would most definitely start a fight, but he bit his tongue for Allen’s sake. 

“G’night, Yuu,” Lavi mumbled, rounding the corner to Allen’s side of the bed and leaning over carefully. “G’night, Allen…” He continued, and he carefully let the pale-haired man’s legs rest on the bed so that he could reach up to unwrap his draped arms. “Time to let go and snuggle with Yuu again. Your favourite. Let’s tuck you in, huh? Nice and easy…” Lavi knew full well that he’d pay for putting Kanda and ‘snuggle’ in the same sentence in the morning, hearing Kanda roll over to give them his back crossly, but Lavi was not expecting Allen to already be awake. 

Tensing up as Allen tugged down on him, fingers lacing behind his neck, Lavi turned his head to look at the pale-haired man in surprise and Allen smiled sleepily at him as he cracked his eyes open. 

“You’re never going to let him live down that knee, eh?” Allen mumbled, a smile slowly spreading across his lips. “Welcome home…” He had to pause for a deep yawn, sighing, and he blinked the tears from his eyes. “What time is it?” 

“It’s three thirty.” Kanda surprised them both by answering before Lavi had the chance to check, and the redhead glanced over at Kanda, who was still facing away from them. Kanda even added: “He’s over two hours late.” Lavi expected some slight irritation from the long-haired man at all times, but this was a new level. 

‘Yeah, sorry.” Lavi balked a bit, half-stopped over the bed and his hosts. “I didn’t know you were waiting for me. Something wrong?” The idea that they’d stayed up to try and catch him on purpose set Lavi on guard, despite how friendly he and Allen were, and Lavi played his cards carefully as Allen hung off his neck without remorse. 

“Nah,” Allen let the charge on this, shaking his head groggily as he kept his attention. “We just wanted to make sure you got home alright.” He tugged, lazy and twice as comfortable as he had been on the sofa, and Lavi had to brace himself on the bed with his hands before he looked between the two of them. He was speechless for once when Allen grumbled: “Lie down. We waited up, so get in here.” 

Lavi, sputtering, looked up in time to see Kanda shift to scowl at them both, mostly backlit by the window, and Lavi was ready for the argument. 

“Hurry up. Some of us work reasonable hours.” Kanda grunted, expressions hidden, and Allen tugged again with his arms around Lavi’s neck. “We waited long enough, and you’ve been dancing around us for days. Lie down, rabbit.” Kanda rolled back over, seeming determined not to get involved in Allen and Lavi’s sleeping arrangements, and left Allen to do the final coaxing and cajoling that he needed to in order to cow Lavi into submission. 

“You heard him.” Allen said, gleeful and willing to make it seem like Kanda’s decision as his lover left it in his hands. “Better lie down or this ass will kill us both.” 

“I stink.” Lavi warned, the excuse as flimsy as paper as Allen’s hands relaxed and spread across his shoulders. 

“Then shower, and come back?” Allen suggested, his groggy grin only growing as he laid back. “Better hurry. You don’t know how bad he gets if he’s woken up twice in a row.” 

Lavi didn’t doubt it, though he did shoot the dark-haired man another look as he tried to calculate the risks of taking them at their word, and Lavi’s brain was going a mile a minute. They seriously seemed to want him to sleep here- both of them had been explicitly clear. He just needed to judge why and how long, and- 

“You’ve got ten minutes before I kill you both.” Kanda growled from the other side of the bed. “Go.” 

Well, if he was going to be that demanding… 

“Right, alright, sure.” Lavi said, grin growing as he spoke. “Ten minutes to clean up. I’ll be-” 

“Nine.” Kanda cut in tersely, and Lavi just chuckled and turned around. Luckily, the bathroom was a stone’s throw away, and Lavi threw the water on in a hurry with no regard for the temperature as he struggled to clean up before Kanda blew a gasket.

Lavi dug out fresh pants, stripping out of his work clothes and tossing them aside, and the redhead hissed and gasped under his breath at the water as he quickly sudsed away his work day with the prospect of sleeping in a different bed hanging over his head. He was still reeling and reconsidering their seemingly generous offer, his body moving on auto-pilot, but Lavi didn’t hesitate to return to the bedroom, still ruffling his hair to absorb the last of the damp. Allen was curled up to keep himself as warm as he could there on one side of the bed while Kanda lay resolutely still on the opposite side, the two men making the valley between them very obvious. 

Lavi chuckled at the sight, at how they had clearly marked what space was specifically for him, and the redhead just draped his towel over the desk chair before he cautiously crawled forward over the foot of the bed to settle his bulk between them. The pale-haired man stirred immediately, rolling over to seek out his warmth as Lavi tucked himself in, and Allen cozied up against his size to leech away the last of the shower's warmth. Lavi let out a few huffs at the touch of cold, dainty hands before he got used to the feeling and settled into his back, but the sudden press of icy fingers from his _other_ side made Lavi's breathing hiccup.

"Jesus, you're both freezing." Lavi whined dramatically in complaint, arms stretching out in either direction to welcome them in closer. "C'mere, before something falls off." If there was a ploy to this, some string attached to this arrangement, Lavi decided that he could deal with it in the morning when he was thinking clearly. For now, body heat, close contact, and sleep.

Allen had no qualms about pressing his hands up around Lavi's neck, sidling up to use his shoulder as a pillow, and Lavi had no reservations about letting his arm fold around Allen's waist. He could lay his hand on the shortest man's hip like this, cradle him against his torso for the night, and both of them settled contently into the position without a concern. They had known each other long enough to lose any shyness, and Lavi wasn't worried about Allen or his comfort level at this point. He could turn his head, nuzzle Allen's forehead affectionately, and drift off without complaint. Allen was like a plush toy, a puppy who was impossible to displease, and Lavi knew where they stood.

Kanda's hands, fingers tucked between Lavi's back and the mattress for warmth, we're almost foreign. A smack here, a punch there, some shoves and friendly ribbing; Lavi was familiar with the dark-haired man, but this was far more intimate than anything they had put each other through. After all, this was Allen's boyfriend. Was he seriously okay with this?

Laying there quietly, Kanda's hands shoved into the warmest place they could find, Lavi's brain struggled with the new information and he had to frown as Kanda's head shifted to use his forearm as a pillow. Compared to Allen, Kanda really did hold himself at arms' reach with this position, and Lavi fidgeted for a moment before he had to break their silence. His hand was falling asleep, and he was sure that Allen was already gone again, so the redhead weighed the risks and went for it.

"Y'know, you _could_ come closer." Lavi murmured, careful not to look Kanda's way now that he was facing him directly. Lavi was far too comfortable for a late night fight and- "You're freezing too, I bet… I've got plenty of heat to go around." -maybe he was curious to see just how much of this _wasn't_ Allen's idea. The pale-haired man had suggested this living arrangement, the pale-haired man had helped him move in, the pale-haired man had told Kanda to let it go when he had grouched.

What else was Allen having Kanda go along with?

When Lavi glanced at him, tense, he saw his furious eyes and he didn't know what to say to Kanda with a scary expression like that. Kanda scowled at him briefly, and the dark-haired man looked ready to tear him to pieces for speaking. Lavi nearly took his arm back out of awkwardness, the silence stretching into uncomfortable territory, but Kanda moved first and the redhead was stunned to have him shift to come _closer_. He scooted forward, relocating his head to the redhead's shoulder, and Lavi sucked in a slow breath as Kanda's cold hands migrated up across his stomach.

Laying there, both shoulders occupied with another man, Lavi had to take stock of his new situation with panicked excitement. His heart was hammering, despite the innocence of both positions they had put themselves in, and Lavi's mind raced back and forth between them. Allen was cuddled comfortably into the side of his body, limbs pulled up to make himself smaller, and one hand lay fondly on Lavi's chest as Allen snoozed. Kanda, on the other hand, had plastered himself chest to thigh against Lavi's side after Lavi's coaxing, and he had wrapped an arm around his waist to cling to him. Lavi reeled over the completely unexpected behaviors, the confusing displays, but Kanda and Allen both said nothing about it.

In fact, Lavi swore he felt Kanda nuzzle him slightly before he went completely still.

Lavi laid there wide awake for a few minutes as he tried to process the turn of events, and his stomach admittedly rolled over as they both relaxed against him. Allen incurred slightly, touch solidified as he leeches up all of Lavi's body heat, and Kanda's arm pulled tighter as he held himself close in his sleep, as though Lavi was just another piece of the furniture. It was tender, much more tender than he'd anticipated, and Lavi slowly settled in after them.

Lavi had his arm around each of them, the tension slowly draining back out of his frame, and the comfort of the master bed easily seduced him out of any late night worrying. He could reconsider their motives later, when their soft breathing wasn't filling his ears like a hypnotic rhythm, and Lavi's eyes closed. His hands busied themselves, toying gingerly with hair and rubbing bare shoulders, and a deep exhale of satisfaction left the redhead's lips.

Lavi drifted off to sleep, his day catching up with him all at once as he lay there swaddled in the comforts of home, and soon the bedroom was still and silent.


End file.
